Time To Upgrade?
Last year I wanted my own computer. I thought how nice it would be to have a laptop for college and got the newly released PowerBook 15" 1.25Ghz. Well now it's been a year, and I've got myself used to portability, but feel my computer is getting long in the tooth. I was hoping for some advice, maybe even personal experience on wheather I should get a G5 or just upgrade my PowerBook.
G5
-Dual 1.8
-160 GB 7200 RPM
-9600 128MB
-DVD-R 8x
-512MB RAM
-AirPort Wireless
If I get a G5, that is the route I'm going. But do I really need to spend $2.2K to be happy? How much of a speed increase will I see if I add a 512MB stick of RAM? (I have 2x256MB sticks now, should I add two DIMMS?)
I have the Hitachi 80gb 4200 drive which scores pretty well on xlr8yourmac.com's HD benchmarks. Would adding the 60GB 7200RPM drive really do that much? As much as that second stick of RAM would do?
Is it worth it to get a faster HD internally (the specs aren't too far off in those tests, I mean some things there was a big difference, but my HD normally came in 2nd. Would I be better off just getting an external FW800 HD and using that as my primary swap drive?
I was cheap and got the combo drive, so I want a DVD burner now. External enclosure and the Pioneer 107 are good buys?
I need a new battery, I never had a good battery life, and i've always been like 75% of what the batteries are rated and Apple wouldn't replace it.
When I say my computer is slowing down, I mean that when I have mail open, am talking on IM, downloading with BitTorrent, playing iTunes, working in Photoshop, DVD2One'ing movies, and browsing the Internet, it gets considerably slow. Will upgrading my PowerBook appease me or should I go for the bigdawg? Will that really be like twice as fast? I mean two faster processors, has got to be a significant speed increase.
It comes down to $2,200 for a G5 which I believe will mostly appease my need for speed, or dropping $700 ($800 2nd DIMM
) to make my computer more usable for me.
G5
-Dual 1.8
-160 GB 7200 RPM
-9600 128MB
-DVD-R 8x
-512MB RAM
-AirPort Wireless
If I get a G5, that is the route I'm going. But do I really need to spend $2.2K to be happy? How much of a speed increase will I see if I add a 512MB stick of RAM? (I have 2x256MB sticks now, should I add two DIMMS?)
I have the Hitachi 80gb 4200 drive which scores pretty well on xlr8yourmac.com's HD benchmarks. Would adding the 60GB 7200RPM drive really do that much? As much as that second stick of RAM would do?
Is it worth it to get a faster HD internally (the specs aren't too far off in those tests, I mean some things there was a big difference, but my HD normally came in 2nd. Would I be better off just getting an external FW800 HD and using that as my primary swap drive?
I was cheap and got the combo drive, so I want a DVD burner now. External enclosure and the Pioneer 107 are good buys?
I need a new battery, I never had a good battery life, and i've always been like 75% of what the batteries are rated and Apple wouldn't replace it.
When I say my computer is slowing down, I mean that when I have mail open, am talking on IM, downloading with BitTorrent, playing iTunes, working in Photoshop, DVD2One'ing movies, and browsing the Internet, it gets considerably slow. Will upgrading my PowerBook appease me or should I go for the bigdawg? Will that really be like twice as fast? I mean two faster processors, has got to be a significant speed increase.
It comes down to $2,200 for a G5 which I believe will mostly appease my need for speed, or dropping $700 ($800 2nd DIMM
) to make my computer more usable for me.
Comments
If you are interested by the G5 wait for the next generation (MWSF I guess).
Originally posted by progmac
new hardware will not make you happy. a puppy will make you happy, though.
I have had my dog slightly over a year, he is loosing puppy cuteness he once had, much like my PowerBook is loosing it's appeal of what I used to think was fast.
Money is also slightly a concern. I should have about $9,000 at the end of summer...plus I think my dad is going to give me $2,000 for school. I am commuting to college my first year, so a car is a must. I was thinking that I could probably get a decent car for around $6,000 to $8,000? I want to leave money for gas, and maybe I should for books and stuff? I just can't decide of the money is worth it for the extra speed or not.
Originally posted by progmac
new hardware will not make you happy. a puppy will make you happy, though.
Someone is going to make that their signature. I wholeheartedly agree , but still those of us with , in my case, a 3 year old dual G4 are in upgrade ponder mode.The pleasure of owning some "what's a spinning beachball" type tech shouldn't be under-rated, I for one would love to not have use freeze so much in Logic Pro. I think I'll muddle through until the next one.
Originally posted by ast3r3x
I have had my dog slightly over a year, he is loosing puppy cuteness he once had, much like my PowerBook is loosing it's appeal of what I used to think was fast.
Money is also slightly a concern. I should have about $9,000 at the end of summer...plus I think my dad is going to give me $2,000 for school. I am commuting to college my first year, so a car is a must. I was thinking that I could probably get a decent car for around $6,000 to $8,000? I want to leave money for gas, and maybe I should for books and stuff? I just can't decide of the money is worth it for the extra speed or not.
i wouldn't buy a new computer. it seems the excitement of any new hardware wears off and if you really want to keep the excitement going, you'll be shelling out thousands of dollars to buy new computers every year for the rest of your life. i'd say live with your powerbook for two more years, then upgrade. you'll want a computer to take back and forth to school, and you still have a kick-ass powerbook that most of us here wish we could afford.
save your money. even if you have no specific reason for saving, you will be amazed how thankful you will be to have a savings when you are in grad school living on ramen noodles and watching a tv that doesn't work right. save, i wish i would have.
oh, and you don't need to be spending $6,000-$8,000 on a car. i would recommend getting a historically reliable car that is about 8 years old (new enough to have air bags). you should be able to spend $4,000 and then put the rest in savings. i have a savings account through ING Direct that earns 2% interest. not bad. you could invest if you want to put the money away for a while, but that is another topic for another time.
Just think, if you can wait a year you can get that 4.5Ghz G6 laptop.
reg
Originally posted by progmac
i wouldn't buy a new computer. it seems the excitement of any new hardware wears off and if you really want to keep the excitement going, you'll be shelling out thousands of dollars to buy new computers every year for the rest of your life. i'd say live with your powerbook for two more years, then upgrade. you'll want a computer to take back and forth to school, and you still have a kick-ass powerbook that most of us here wish we could afford.
save your money. even if you have no specific reason for saving, you will be amazed how thankful you will be to have a savings when you are in grad school living on ramen noodles and watching a tv that doesn't work right. save, i wish i would have.
oh, and you don't need to be spending $6,000-$8,000 on a car. i would recommend getting a historically reliable car that is about 8 years old (new enough to have air bags). you should be able to spend $4,000 and then put the rest in savings. i have a savings account through ING Direct that earns 2% interest. not bad. you could invest if you want to put the money away for a while, but that is another topic for another time.
I made $2600 from selling half my apple stock a couple months ago. Guess I shouldn't have
The reason I'm looking into putting$6,000 to $8,000 into a car now is because I want that to be my car for several years to come. I figure the more I spend now, the nicer car with lower miles I can get. I guess it will come down to how much I want to spend on a car, because the rest I can put into a mutual fund or two. I'm not looking to get a sports car, but it would be nice get a car that I don't have to worry about breaking down and is nicer...I guess I'll be starting a thread in AppleOutsider later